Elvis Presley was one of the biggest icons in the entertainment industry. His music and style were groundbreaking at the time, which despite some backlash, he became an instant success with his songs and provocative gyrations. He wasn’t called the ‘king of rock and roll’ for nothing! He also starred in over 30 movies over the course of his career and there were movies made about him after he passed away. Kurt Russell starred as Elvis in a 1979 made for television movie. In 2022 another film, directed by Baz Lurhmann, also called Elvis was made with Austin Butler in the title role and stars the iconic Tom Hanks.  

In this film, which follows the life of Elvis Presley (Austin Butler, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) that is told from the viewpoint of his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks, The Burbs, Inferno, Forrest Gump). Parker, who is near death, reflects on the career of Elvis and his wife Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge, The Society). We learn of Parker’s financial abuse of Elvis which he manipulates him out of millions of dollars. Parker’s financial shenanigans with Elvis is one of the main plots of the film.

I thought Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis was a great, great film and a pleasure to watch. Yes, it is a long movie, going over two and a half hours and there some issues with the pacing, but overall, at least to me, the time went by quickly due to the strong performances by the cast. Tom Hanks is fantastic as the sinister Colonel Park and Austin Butler is an outstanding, bigger than life Elvis Presley. I also enjoyed the parts where Elvis is at shows with Little Richard, B.B. King and Big Mama Thorton and thought it was cool to have the elements of other musicians included in the film. Luhrmann’s best work comes from the events and concerts that Elvis has, showing much flair. What makes this film so unique is that Parker is clearly the antagonist of the film, and we are viewing the life of Elvis Presley through the eyes of the ‘bad guy’ in the movie, which I felt was a nice touch!

Warner Brothers has released Elvis on Blu-ray. Even though there is a 4K UHD release of the film as well this Blu-ray 1080p offers a very sharp, crisp image. Colors look incredibly rich and there is a lot of detail to the picture, with excellent black levels, and strong textures on the costumes the actors wear as well as other scenery in the background. Flesh tones also look amazingly sharp. A DVD is also included in the package for those who still watch movies in that format.

The Blu-ray has an outstanding Dolby Atmos soundtrack (Dolby TrueHD 7.1). Dialogue is clear, with the musical numbers and songs just flowing ever so dynamically, and other noises which includes cars riding around, screaming girls who go crazy over Elvis at his events, among other crowd noises along with the musical instruments that Elvis plays. The richness of the audio in unparalleled and nothing could ever top how great the sound is on this release.

The Blu-ray from Warner Brothers offers a vast amount of extras.

Bigger Than Life: The Story of Elvis is a featurette with director Baz Luhrmann, actors Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, costume designer Catherine Martin, producer Schuyler Weiss, and other key members of the cast and crew who reflect on the making of this movie. It runs just over twenty minutes.

Rock ‘N Roll Royalty: The Music and Artists Behind Elvis in essence is another look at the film with the key members of the cast and crew discussing how inspired they were to make the movie.

Fit for a King: The Style of Elvis has costume designer Catherine Martin talking about of the outfits and costumes used in the film.

Viva Australia: Recreating Iconic Locations for Elvis. Director Baz Luhrmann and others from the cast discuss shooting the film in Australia and Los Angeles

A Trouble Video which is nothing more than lyrics for the song Trouble.  

Musical Moments which has 19 clips of songs and musical moments that can be played separately or you can use the play all option and enjoy them all in one viewing.

For those that collect Blu-rays and don’t need the UHD experience, this Warner Brothers release is perfect. The Blu-ray offers excellent audio and video quality and some extras to make this release more than worthwhile!

Elvis

Director- Baz Luhrmann

Cast- Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge

Country of Origin- USA

Distributor – Warner Brothers

Number of Discs – 2 ( one Blu-ray and one DVD)

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date –11/8/2022